Gavriel: Alien Sci-Fi Romance

by Enid Titan

  “Providing the winds don’t rip us apart,” I grumble.

  “Right. Providing that. Hang on tight!”

  I hang on as she vents weight.

  “We’re accelerating!”

  “How many kilometers?”

  “10,000!”

  “We’re almost there!”

  She maneuvers us into the energy field.

  “Hang on, Jaen!” I yell, steering us so we move with the wind. We’ll land early, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. We’ll be landing in the middle of the night on a planet that can sustain life but may have unfriendly wildlife. The ship rumbles again, and we’re nearly knocked off balance.

  “Can you land us?”

  “Aye,” I assure her, although I’d be much more confident if I had Kazim’s piloting skills.

  “You don’t sound sure!”

  “Hold on to that damned hedgehog!”

  Bonbon had freed himself from fear and now scampered across the controls, nearly running into my fingers as I tried to steer us.

  “Bonbon get back here!”

  “Shit! We’re breaking the atmosphere. This will be a rough ride.”

  Jaen and I grabbed onto whatever we could and yelled as we hurtled through the atmosphere, screaming as our pod fell like a burning comet.

  “WE NEED TO SLOW DOWN!” Jaen yelled.

  I could barely move. Our gravity sensors were nearly shot. If I lifted my feet, I could float a bit.

  “I’M TRYING.”

  “GAVRIEL IF YOU CRASH THIS SHIP I SWEAR I WILL KILL —

  Chapter 48

  Headfirst Into Danger

  The next thing I remember, there’s smoke everywhere and I hear Jaen screaming my name.

  “GAVRIEL YOU IDIOT!”

  I groan.

  “THAT WAS THE WORST LANDING I’VE EVER SEEN!”

  “We’re alive, aren’t we?” I grumble.

  She pulls my face off the console and drags me to my feet.

  “We need to get off this ship and make sure it’s not about to explode.”

  “We’ll be fine,” I grumble, “I only hit my head.”

  “Lucky. Because I’m sorely tempted to hit it again.”

  I grab our packs. We have tents and technology to create a relatively luxurious two-person campsite. But we don’t have more than another week of rations left. We must sort the rations problem out soon. Jaen throws a couple packs over her shoulders and tucks Bonbon into her pocket, where he probably curls up and falls right to sleep.

  “I must have hit my head pretty hard. Where’s our navigation for this planet?”

  Jaen lifts her sleeve and points to her wristband.

  “I put in the chip on the way down.”

  “How the hell did I get knocked unconscious, but you survived?”

  “It’s my good luck. Plus, I’m not convinced Garth didn’t damage your brain when he tortured you.”

  “Are you saying I seem like I’m brain damaged?”

  “Come on, Gavriel! We don’t have time to argue.”

  We rode out the storm and arrived here early. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. We must assess the ship’s damage. This planet has a strange cycle — a repetition of four hours of daylight and four hours of darkness with quickly descending suns.

  “What’s the local time?”

  Jaen taps her wristband to get the internal sensors to calibrate.

  “We have one hour until another night cycle.”

  “Great. That’s enough time to set up camp, but what about our scanners? We need to check for alien life.”

  “Don’t worry,” Jaen assures me, “We can handle it. There’s no need to go all Quartermaster on me.”

  “Sorry. I guess I’m used to being the boss.”

  We hike a few miles from our ship. It’s not safe to camp too close to it since it came through the sky on a beacon of burning fire, it’s safe to say the crash may have attracted attention.

  “Are you sure this planet has no alien life?”

  I had no role to play in selecting the planet for our escape.

  “We’re fairly sure there are no people. The confederacy registers proclaimed this planet resistant to colonization, so they incinerated the people here. It’s scheduled for Class F recolonization efforts in twenty years.”

  “Great. So we have twenty years to figure out a way off.”

  “I’m hoping we find a way out of here before then. But yes.”

  We set up our cabin shelter and as I hook up our solar power cells and sensors, Jaen starts a fire outside. We could cook inside the cabin but an old-fashioned campfire excites Jaen, so she sets to work, leaving me inside with Bonbon. I set a little saucer of water on the table as I work and Bonbon’s tiny tongue laps furiously at the dish. I warn Jaen not to wander too far since we still can’t scan the planet for life signs. I’m not worried about humanoids, although perhaps I ought to be. I worry about predators with fangs and claws who could swallow Jaen whole. She cuts short my musings about protecting her when she appears in the cabin doorway, her hair pulled back into a high bun of messy curls.

  “Gavriel!”

  “Yes?”

  “Come out here. Quickly. You have got to see this!”

  I follow her outside, my pistol strapped to my side. Thank you, Nova, for the weapons. Jaen points to a line of trees not far off from our campsite. A few large trees shield our campsite. There’s a clump of trees with a path leading to deep forest, but from our position, we can see the moors stretching out for miles. We can see our landing site from here, but we’re behind just enough trees that someone would have to know what they were looking for to find us. I don’t encourage Jaen to wander deep into the forest. She points to the thickening patch of trees and whispers, “Look.”

  “What is it? We’d need to get a scanner on it to know.”

  “It looks like a rabbit,” she whispers.

  If rabbits were as big as Alsatian hounds. Confederacy officers on smaller colonized planets use terrifying Alsatians to keep everyone obedient. This rabbit is as big as one of those dogs with long ears.

  “Keep back,” I murmur, “It could be a predator.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Gavriel. It’s a bunny. A giant bunny that’s cute… but might be delicious too.”

  I scoff and make my voice more stern in some vain hope that Jaen will listen to me for once.

  “Stay away from it. I’m nearly done hooking up the scanners. I see you’ve done a marvellous job with the fire.”

  “Yup. I used to camp with my dad.”

  “He was an excellent teacher. Now come on. I don’t trust you around that rabbit.”

  “You’re not in charge of me!”

  “Jaen…”

  “You’re not. And maybe now that we’re down here, we can establish some rules.”

  “Like what?”

  I grin. She’s adorable when she’s mad. And her face is all red from standing in front of the fire.

  “Equal power.”

  “Equality? That’s what you want?”

  “It’s what I demand.”

  “I ought to thrash you for being such a brat.”

  “Is that how you treat women on your homeworld? Are you another chauvinist alien male?”

  “Perhaps I ought to be to keep you from running head first into danger!”

  Jaen gasps.

  “Take that back!”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t run head first into danger. You’re the one running headfirst into danger!”

  “Only because I’m so busy trying to keep you out of trouble!”

  She puts her hands on her hips and stomps.

  “I didn’t ask you to keep me out of trouble, Gavriel. I can handle myself.”

  “Great! I suppose I ought to let you wander into the woods then and let any alien sink its teeth into you. Maybe then I can eat their leftovers.”

  “You’d eat me?!”

  “Oh, aye. If I had nothing left
to eat. And I’d think of this very conversation while I swallowed. I bet you’d taste delicious.”

  “Gavriel!”

  She’s looking at me with such shock, and I’m scowling at her. And we look at each other. And stare. And then we both burst into laughter. Jaen’s wristband beeps.

  “Shit! We have five minutes until darkness.”

  “The sun sets that quickly?”

  “Yes. Let’s go inside. And please try not to eat me while I’m in there.”

  Chapter 49

  So Alone

  Light glows from the roof of our cabin. I strung up the solar lights through the rafters of our makeshift structure. Jaen shuts the door and turns the lock.

  “Now its dark, I’ll help set up the scanners.”

  “Great.”

  She’s good with technology and working with her is easy. It’s always been easy. I remember watching the sky with her in the dome, wanting desperately for her to acknowledge me with a single word or a sidelong glance.

  “Gav?” she whispers.

  “Hm?”

  “Would you really eat me? Like… do your people eat humans?”

  I snort.

  “No! Did I properly scare you?”

  “Yes. You’re much bigger than me! If you wanted to eat me… I don’t think it would go well for me.”

  “Luckily for you, I don’t wish to eat you.”

  “Good.”

  I reach over for her hand before she can start a scan and squeeze it.

  “Jaen,” I murmur, “Maybe we ought to stop working. Now that we’re here, we have all the time in the world.”

  “We ought to finish this. Because if that bunny isn’t dangerous… I’m going to pet him.”

  “If I let you have your way, you’ll turn this cabin into a bloody menagerie.”

  “Maybe I will. But Bonbon will still be in charge.”

  Bonbon lets out an emphatic squeak upon hearing his name. I let Jaen finish starting the scan. We have five hours of darkness and the scan will take ninety minutes for a complete index of life signs. We’d planned to do it before the storm pushed us closer to the planet and forced an early landing.

  Now that we’re here, we have two cots. But Jaen sits on mine. I join her, sitting on the edge. There’s no reason for me to be this nervous sitting next to her, but Jaen Nabokov has always made me nervous. I don’t want to touch her or do anything that could push her away from me. I want her close. I need her close.

  “I want to kiss you,” Jaen blurts out.

  I chuckle.

  “What’s stopping you?”

  “I don’t want you to think I’m ready yet. Because I’m not.”

  “I’m confused. First you want to kiss me, but now you’re not ready?”

  “No. I’m not ready for sex.”

  I run my palm over the top of her hand and take her small hand in mine.

  “You set the pace, human girl. I can handle it.”

  “But last time… last time we were together, I could feel how badly you wanted me. What if you can’t control your urges this time?”

  “Are you worried I’ll force you?”

  She bites her lip and glances over at me guiltily.

  “Yes.”

  “Would a promise help?”

  “Yes.”

  “I promise I won’t force you. As long as you’re in my bed, Jaen Nabokov, you tell me exactly what you want and how you want it and I’ll respect you. No animal urges can overwhelm that respect.”

  “There aren’t a lot of men like you. Free men. Slaves.”

  “There used to be. The confederacy destroyed our families, our planets, and in some ways took away our morals.”

  “Do pirates have morals?”

  “Few. But I don’t want to be a pirate forever.”

  “You don’t?”

  She tilts her head like she’s never considered it before and her hair falls out of her messy bun, cascading down one of her shoulders and exposing her pretty neck. I want to kiss her instead of answering her questions, but I ought to maintain the restraint I promised.

  “No. I never wanted to do this. I do this because I have family relying on me.”

  “Children?”

  I snicker.

  “No. No children. It’s a rare woman who wants an Odilian to breed her considering we produce litters.”

  “Litters?!”

  “Oh, aye. My mum had seven litters, six of us in the first, five in the second and four in the rest.”

  Jaen calculates the sum in her head quickly.

  “Thirty-one kids?!”

  “Yes. I had thirty brothers and sisters at first. Most of them are dead. The rest split up between me and my other sister. We don’t know where they are and they don’t know where we are. There are only fifteen Odilian families who survived the purge.”

  “I didn’t know there were so few of you. I don’t think I’ve met anyone Odilian before you.”

  “Most people haven’t. We’re well hidden. I don’t know what Hadriel does to keep the others protected. But I work on pirate ships and send money home. It’s the only way I can keep them safe.”

  “Why do we all sit around and live in such a terrible universe,” Jaen whispers.

  “We’re trying to survive in it. We don’t have time to fix it. We can’t. The universe is so vast and we’re subject to the whims of men in power. Not to mention, speaking against the confederacy is practically treason.”

  “I don’t care. Someone ought to do something.”

  “Aye. Men with nothing to lose. I’m not one of those men.”

  I lean over and kiss her cheek.

  “I want you to meet my family. You’re not meant for pirate ships, Jaen. Have you ever even killed someone?”

  “No.”

  “I have. And it’s horrible. It doesn’t matter if they’re confederates or one of Saroyan’s lackeys. Killing changes you. Forever.”

  She runs her hands over my hair and then my horns and then climbs on top of me, straddling me again with her curvy human body. I grab her hips and hold her against my chest. Her heart urgently thuds and I can almost feel the vibrations wracking my entire body.

  If she knew how badly I wanted to make love to her, I don’t think she’d let me hold her like this. She kisses me and I kiss her back, hard. I pull her close to me and enjoy as much of her as I can the way she wants. I can kiss her and kiss her and satisfy myself, knowing that each kiss brings me closer to making love to her. One day, she’ll feel safe with me. I can give her that. Or I can try.

  She pulls away from me, gasping for breath.

  “I never knew how much you’d been through,” she murmurs.

  “I don’t talk about it.”

  “But you should. I want to know what you’ve been through. Because… since everything that happened…”

  Her lower lip trembles and I realize she’s about to cry.

  “I’ve been so alone, Gavriel,” she whispers, tears streaming down her cheeks, “I know other people have lost family but they all handle it so well. I feel like I’m all alone because I can’t turn it off. I can’t turn off all the feelings.”

  She leans forward, her weight careening into mine, and I clutch her close to me as I lean against our cabin walls with her body pressed into mine.

  “I’ve got you, Jaen. You’re not alone. You don’t have to be.”

  Her fingers tangle in my hair, and I hold her still, protecting her. Keeping her safe.

  Chapter 50

  Hunting Trip

  We sleep without having sex or anything in between. I don’t mind. I hold Jaen close until the next daylight cycle starts. I know what it’s like to be alone. I know how badly she wants to protect herself and hide all signs of weakness. I understand that urge. I kiss her until she wakes up. Our scan’s finished by now.

  “Jaen,” I whisper, “Come on up.”

  “I could sleep for fifty years,” she mumbles under her breath before unleashing an exasperated yawn.


  “Come on. Let’s check the scans.”

  Bonbon runs across her face, finishing the job and getting her nice and wide awake. We wander over to the console together and she groans as she opens the program.

  “I don’t know how I’ll get used to this day cycle.”

  “I’ve experienced worse. There’s a planet with a fifteen year long day and a decade long night. It’s horrible.”

  “You win. That sounds worse. Well. Look at this. It looks like we’re on a planet of carnivores. And you were right. That bunny is dangerous. There’s a match for it in the confederacy’s database.”

  “Where would you be if I wasn’t looking after you?”

  Jaen elbows me, and I wrap my arms around her waist and kiss the top of her head.

  “So is that what we’re doing today? Hunting?”

  “Yes.”

  She leans against me and shivers as I kiss her earlobe.

  “And about last night… I don’t want you to think I’m a weakling. I can handle myself.”

  “I know. But it doesn’t hurt to know you aren’t alone.”

  “Right. I have a companion who’s already threatened to eat me. Things are going great.”

  “Come on then. We’d better start hunting before the temptation to nibble on your toes gets stronger.”

  We grab our weapons and dress in camouflaged clothing. I can’t help but stare at Jaen as she dresses. By the time we’re dressed, our intercom system whirs to life. Jaen gasps and races towards the computer.

  “Are we picking up a signal?”

  “No. That’s not possible. There are no technologically advanced civilizations here. This planet contains scorched earth and wild animals. No humanoids. No advanced life-forms.”

  “There’s a message!”

  I don’t have time to warn her that picking up a message could lead Saroyan’s ships or confederacy vessels right to our front door. Humanoids don’t belong on this planet. Jaen plays the message.

  “Gavriel. I don’t know if you can receive this. I got your coordinates from Nova. I’m 200,000 kilometers away and I’m coming to get you. Things have gotten worse on the ship. We need you back. This isn’t a game. I need you both ready by the time I get there. We’re running out of time on the ship. I’ll explain later. My estimated arrival time is 3 hours. Be ready.”